So, after subjecting myself to the pain of the first Mamma Mia! I felt it was only fair to pay to subject myself to the same pain, or so I thought. Going in to this film my expectations were on the floor. If you have read my review on the first one you probably know that I am not exactly a fan of it (except for Pierce Brosnan's singing) and so coming into the sequel I was expecting to absolutely hate it. But, to my surprise, this film was not terrible. Now this doesn't mean that I massively enjoyed it or that it doesn’t have problems, because it definitely does, but after the first film I wasn't expecting to see a film where I was not wishing death upon myself throughout. But it is much better acted than the first, much better directed, much better looking and just a better made film in general, and it made it so much easier to sit through than the first despite it being 20 minutes longer. There is one huge, HUGE problem with the film though, but I will get to that towards the end of this review. The film opens back on the island from the first film where we see Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) writing invites to the grand re-opening of the hotel in honour of her late mother, Donna. The film then takes a page out of the Godfather 2 (1974) book and flashes back to Donna as a young woman (Lily James) who has just graduated from Oxford University and is going travelling around Europe (to find herself I guess). This is where she meets Sophie's three potential dads, Harry Bright (Hugh Skinner), Bill Anderson (Josh Dylan) and Sam Carmichael (Jeremy Irvine). This film then switches back and forth between Sophie and the original characters from the first film setting up the hotel and being depressed, and the younger versions of the characters doing their thing in the 70s.
First thing to say about this film is that the casting is pretty great. I praised the cast for the original film for the most part even if what they were given to work wit did not bring out the best in them. This film is much improved in this department, especially with the new cast members. Lily James is endlessly charming in pretty much everything she does, and she is no exception here as she puts in another great performance. The actors who play Harry, Sam and Bill are all good as well. They all put in pretty good impressions of their older selves and so I never didn't believe that these were the same characters, which is not always the case with films that do the same thing. The older cast are fine in the roles again, mainly since they are established and talented actors. But the biggest improvement in respects to cast and characters are with the characters of Tanya and Rosie, played by Christine Baranski and Julie Walters, ad their younger versions played by Jessica Keenan Wynn and Alexa Davies. In the original film these characters destroyed my soul. They were terrible and so unfunny that I felt laughter had died. But something miraculous happens in this film. They are actually kind of funny. Never laugh out loud hilarious, but I got a legitimate couple of chuckles out of these two. The older versions of these characters still have their problems and still grind my gears a little, but the younger versions of these two are great. They are very likeable and funny, and they are the best cast as the two younger versions. They play the roles pretty spot on.
The film is technically way superior to the original. It looks slicker and the editing is much more streamlined, making it look like a proper Hollywood production rather than something thy kind of just shit out. There are still a couple of hokey moments such as freeze frames and slow motion, but this is a big, cheesy musical so whatever, I can overlook it. However, the main problem with this film is that it feels really rushed despite being two hours long. The film is attempting to have several really big emotional arcs but all of them lack a bit of the emotional punch that they needed because the characters don't get given enough time to build up relationships that you care about. The relationships between Young Donna and the three guys are charming and all when they are happening, but they are over just as quickly as they begin and so you wonder why she has such an emotional connection to these guys (is it cause they’re pretty? I bet its cause they’re pretty). This is especially true with Donna and Sam who we see together for maybe twenty minute of screen time and we are meant to believe that these two then loved each other for 20 plus years. Bollocks. This film is also coincidence central. The amount of coincidences to either give a nice surprise or just allow the story to continue without having to think up interesting ways for these characters stories to continue going forward.
The musical scenes in the film are also much better than the first. Although the songs are not the huge ABBA hits which were all used up in the first film, they make up for it with much better choreography and direction, as well as much better-quality singing. However, despite this the greatest joy I get from the music was when the Knowing Me, Knowing You sequence happens. Not because it is particularly well made or has great emotional depth or anything, but because I had to hole myself back from doing my best Alan Partridge impression (best bit of the film, I’m not joking). The film, like the first, does sometimes struggle with the fact that it has to write a story around these songs, but it is doesn’t much better than the first one. However, this is where we come to the main problem with the film. The travesty, the sheer insult to the audience frankly. Pierce Brosnan sings once. FUCKING ONCE. Fuck you Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again. I paid to watch you and you can't give me terrible Pierce Brosnan singing for even a moment, and the one time you do it is in a depressing scene, so I can't even laugh? Fuck off (I’m done now.)
Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again is a much superior film to the original, however I still do not feel that it is a particularly great film. I still found myself feeling slightly bored as the film dragged on towards the end, but for the most part it was kind of just fine. The acting is good, and it is well made, but the story does feel rushed and it really does drag the emotion of the film down with it, which is a problem with a film that is built around emotional depth. It is not a film I would say I wish I hadn't watched, it is more o just a take it or leave it kind of film. Again, like the first one, I am definitely not the demographic that the film is going for, but I thought it was just fine. If you liked the first one definitely give it a watch, if you didn't maybe stay away, but don't feel like you ned to avoid it like the plague.